###################################
### mod_perl Guide CHANGES file ###
###################################
11.26.2000 ver 1.27
* intro.pod:
o. updated the long due credits section
* correct_headers.pod:
o added a link to an info page:
"Prevent the browser from Caching a page"
* multiuser.pod:
o added a ref to "The User-mode Linux Kernel" project (related to
running of many servers on the same machine safely to the system).
* performance.pod:
o added the http_load utility section
o added notes about latency problems with db transactions
"Persistent DB Connections" (Rodger Donaldson)
* download.pod:
o added links to http_load and Daquiri (only link to the backhand
site) utilities.
* troubleshooting.pod:
o foo ... at /dev/null line 0 (Honza Pazdziora)
o httpd keeps on growing after each restart (Perrin Harkins)
* debug.pod:
o suggestion to use warn while debugging (Kenny Gatdula)
o extended the section on using strace(1).
o documented the fact that Apache::Status shouldn't be used on
production machines because of the overhead that it creates
(Doug).
o extended the section: "Safe Resource Locking and Cleanup Code"
with localized file globs example (Doug)
* help.pod:
o added cgi-list subscription info (Peter J. Schoenster)
o started new sections: 'Get help with Unix OS flavors -- Unix OS
related resources' and 'Get help with Performance and Scalability'
* perl.pod:
o new: Understanding Closures -- the Easy Way (Randal Shwartz,
Perrin Harkins, Stas)
o Exceptions section update: Exception::Class and Devel::StackTrace
(Matt Sergeant and Dave Rolsky)
* porting.pod:
o new item: "Return Codes under Apache::Registry" (Eric Cholet)
o "-M and other time() file tests under mod_perl" -- added a nice
TransHandler to handle the time resetting (Doug)
o Adding local() at "-M and other time() file tests under mod_perl"
(Andreas Koenig)
o Documented Apache::Reload
o correction: PERL5LIB is not ignored when PerlTaintCheck is on
* install.pod:
o mod_proxy_add_forward setup extended with notes about
--permute-module to make it easy to place mod_proxy_add_forward
before mod_proxy (Larry Leszczynski)
o mod_perl and php install scenario (Roy Nasser)
o reviewed and extensively edited.
o added an info about Aphid Apache Installer
o removed the section about experimental compile option
PERL_MARK_WHERE since it should go away with 2.0 (it's still
mentioned in debug.pod : "Finding the Line Which Triggered the
Error or Warning" (Doug)
* scenario.pod: reviewed and extensively edited.
* strategy.pod: reviewed and extensively edited.
* Minor corrections:
o install.pod: (Neil Conway, Lance Cleveland)
o perl.pod: (Pavel Shmidt)
o config.pod: (Michael Rendell)
08.22.2000 ver 1.26-fix-01
* build: fixed the Makefile.PL to detect the prerequisites. MANIFEST
file is OK now (didn't accept files starting with './') (Marcel
Grunauer)
* troubleshooting.pod: install_driver(Oracle) failed: Can't load
'.../DBD/Oracle/Oracle.so' for module DBD::Oracle (Ed Park)
08.21.2000 ver 1.26
* mod_perl guide's build process is now completely migrated into an
external module, distributed in package Pod::HtmlPSPdf.
* install.pod: Raven SSL installation notes updated (Doug, Geoffrey
Young)
* troubleshooting.pod: install_driver(Oracle) failed: Can't load
'.../DBD/Oracle/Oracle.so' for module DBD::Oracle (Yann Ramin,
Richard Chen)
* security.pod: a code sample in "Non authenticated access for
internal IPs, Authenticated for external IPs" is corrected (Will
Trillich)
* porting.pod: "CHECK Blocks" (Doug)
* scenario.pod: "The dual server installation scenario was complete
rewritten, to accomodate a better in my opinion directories layout
and simpler installation process"
* perl.pod: "Exception Handling for mod_perl" was improved by Matt
Sergeant.
* Minor corrections:
o config (Ron Pero)
08.05.2000 ver 1.25
* License: People asked me to redistribute mod_perl Guide in other
ways than just mirroring the mod_perl site. Therefore I've licensed
the guide under GPL and included the required info in the CPAN
package.
* perl:
o added "Using Non-Hardcoded Configuration Module Names" (Chris Winters)
* debug:
o updated: "How can I find out if a mod_perl code has a memory leak"
o rewritten:
Handling the 'User pressed Stop button' case
Detecting Aborted Connections
The Importance of Cleanup Code
Critical Section
Safe Resource Locking and Cleanup Code
* config:
o added a sub header "Running CGI, PerlRun, and Registry Scripts
located in the same Directory" to make the info more prominent to
find. (Ron Pero)
o PerlAddVar info was added
* control
o "Swapping Prevention" rewritten from scratch and moved from
performance chapter to control chapter (Ed Phillips, Barrie
Slaymaker, Joshua Chamas)
o "Preparing for Machine Reboot" -- added a section describing the
chkconfig(8) use (Andreas Koenig)
* porting:
o the wrong suggested solution to the nested sub problem was
spotted!!! (Hunter Monroe, Hailei Dai) it's fixed now.
o update: "Terminating requests and processes, the exit() and
child_terminate() functions" -- under perl5.6 you don't need to
override exit anymore! (Doug, Eric Cholet)
o s/PerlTaintMode/PerlTaintCheck/ (Gunther Birznieks)
* review:
o Mark Summerfield has reviewed these chapters: modules,
browserbugs, security and start.
* performance:
o "CGI.pm vs Apache::Request" and "Apache::args vs
Apache::Request::param" were merged into a single section called:
"Apache::args vs Apache::Request::param vs CGI::param"
o The first example showing the use of ab was corrected (Joe
Schaefer)
o rewritten:
+ Apache::Registry PerlHandler versus Custom PerlHandler
+ Keeping the Shared Memory Limit
+ Limiting the Size of the Processes
+ Limiting Other Resources Used by Apache Child Processes
* modules:
o "Apache::GTopLimit - Limit Apache httpd processes" merged into
performance chapter.
o Apache::PerlVINC configuration corrected (Patrick)
* Minor corrections:
o config (Carl Hansen, Ron Pero, Jeff Chan, Cliff Rayman, Marcel Grunauer)
o control (Marcel Grunauer)
o debug (Marcel Grunauer)
o install (Ron Pero)
o snippets (Ask Bjoern Hansen, Chris Nokleberg)
o perl (Will Trillich, Cliff Rayman, Jason Rhinelander)
o porting (Ged Haywood)
06.07.2000 ver 1.24
* perl: "catching exceptions" -- a few corrections (Matt Sergeant)
* modules: added Apache::Gzip (Ken Williams)
* guide's design
o put back the links underlining
o background-color: #ffffee;
o added (jump) menus to reach search/download/index from everywhere
o added the two new search engines (both working on the split
version of the guide)
* guide's build:
o The build code was completely rewritten, html2ps is now bundled
with the guide so one can create PS version, and if there is
ps2pdf the PDF version.
o It can produce the split version of the Guide.
o One can easily reuse the package to build his own docs, since the
look-n-feel has been moved into the templates from the code.
o Once I feel confident I'll probably separate the build code from
the Guide to give it its own life and make it easier to reuse by
other developers. I need testers who want to use this package
before I release it a separate module.
* performance:
o old sections rewritten/improved:
- Are My Variables Shared?
- Preloading Registry Scripts
- Calculating Real Memory Usage
- Preloading Perl Modules at Server Startup
- Preloading Registry Scripts at Server Startup
- Forking and Executing Subprocesses from mod_perl
= Spawning a Detachable Sub-Process
= Gory Details About fork()
= Executing system() in the Right Way
= Avoiding Zombie Processes
o new sections:
- Apache/mod_perl Build Options
= mod_perl Process Size as a Function of Compiled in C Modules and
mod_perl Features
- Modules Initializing at Server Startup
= Initializing DBI.pm (corrections by Tim Bunce)
= Initializing CGI.pm
* control:
o These sections were rewritten and extended:
- Server Maintenance Chores
= Handling Log Files
+ Log Rotation
+ Non-Scheduled Emergency Log Rotation
o 'cyclog' is now called multilog (from daemontools package)
o Moved from debug and rewritten "Speeding up the Apache Termination
and Restart"
o Rewritten and extended "SUID Start-up Scripts" with:
"Introduction to SUID Executables"
"Apache Startup SUID Script's Security"
"Sample Apache Startup SUID Script"
* hardware: partly rewritten and improved.
* reconstruction process: obvious.pod has been disassembled and merged
into debug.pod.
* debug: update: Apache::DumpHeaders (Ask Bjoern Hansen)
* troubleshooting: PerlFreshRestart is irrelevant for DSO (Vivek
Khera, Doug)
* review:
o Drew Taylor has reviewed these chapters: scenario and strategy
chapters.
o Mark Summerfield has reviewed these chapters: scenario, perl and
strategy chapters.
o Eric Cholet has reviewed the porting chapter.
* Minor corrections:
o download (Salve J Nilsen)
o performance (w trillich)
o perl (Scott Holdren)
o snippets+download (Ask Bjoern Hansen)
o debug (Robert Mathews)
o scenario (Tuomas Salo)
05.12.2000 ver 1.23
* guide's layout changed: Now there are two index files -- the default
index.html shows only the names of the chapters in TOC, the new
index_long.html shows the full TOC as before.
* guide's layout changed: Changed to simple black_on_white no fancy
frames and colors anymore
* guide: Changed the order of the the chapters towards logical
sequentiality.
* snippets: new: "Sending Cookies in REDIRECT Response" (Doug)
* help: new: added the digest list info (Ask Bjoern Hansen)
* performance: new: "Limiting the Number of Processes Serving the Same
Resource"
* troubleshooting: updated: "RegistryLoader: Translation of uri [...]
to filename failed"
* porting: update: "using format() and write()" -- using sprintf (Matt
Sergeant)
* perl: new: "Variables Globally, Lexically Scoped And Fully
Qualified" (Ged W. Haywood)
* build suite: documenting the build script so others could reuse this
code in their documentation generation chores.
* performance: a complete reorganizing of the content toward a better
navigatibility.
* strategy: removed "Multithreading or not Multithreading" -- has
flaws and needs a rewrite
* performance: update: "KeepAlive" -- works only if there is a
Content-Length header (Andreas Koenig)
* help: new: "get help with CVS"
* troubleshooting: new: "Segfaults when using XML::Parser" (DeWitt
Clinton)
* performance: new: "Do Not Run Everything on One mod_perl Server"
(Joshua Chamas, Shane shane@isupportlive.com, Gunther Birznieks)
* minor corrections: scenario (Eric Jain), debug (Geoffrey Young).
* install: new: "mod_perl and Raven SSL" (Doug)
* scenario: new: "mod_proxy: Security Issues" (Eric Cholet)
* performance: new: "Improving Perl Code Performance Hints" =>
"Concatination or List" (Doug)
* debug: new: "hanging processes detection: Using the Perl Trace"
* debug: new: "Hanging because of the OS Problem" (Greg Stark)
* install: new: "About gdbm, db and ndbm libraries" (Les Mikesell)
* performance: new: "Benchmarking Apache::Registry and Perl Content
Handler"
* performance: new: "Benchmarking CGI.pm and Apache::Request"
* porting: new: "Transitioning from Apache::Registry to Apache
handlers"
* config: new: "Alias and Rewrite Conflicts" (Eric Cholet, Ask Bjoern
Hansen, Vivek Vhera)
* scenario: new: "Front-end Back-end Proxying with Virtual Hosts"
(Vivek Vhera, Eric Cholet)
* install: new: "APACHE_USER and APACHE_GROUP env" (Doug)
* config: new: "Overriding <Location> Setting in "Sub-Location""
(Darren Chamberlain, Vivek Vhera)
* review: Mark Summerfield has reviewed these chapters: porting,
correct_headers, intro, multiuser, snippets and performance.
* troubleshooting: new: "Processes Get Stuck on Graceful Restart" (Doug)
* debug: updated: "Safe Resource Locking" added utils to trace the
open files owner processes. (Doug, Eric Cholet)
* databases: new: "Database Locking Risks"
* performance: update: "Limiting the Resources Used by httpd
Children", explanation of the soft and hard limits (Eric Cholet)
* help: added subscription info for perl5-porters mailing list
* perl: new: "Exception Handling for mod_perl" (Matt Sergeant)
* review: Ged W. Haywood was very kind to review and correct the
config, perl, dbm, snippets, advocacy, browserbugs, download, help,
modules, troubleshooting, multiuser, obvious, correct_headers,
status and hardware chapters.
* modules: new: "Apache::RequestNotes" (Geoffrey Young)
04.09.2000 ver 1.22
* intro: updated the long due credits section
* snippets: new: "Authentication Snippets" (Michael Finke, Eric
Cholet)
* debug: new: "Apache::DumpHeaders" (Ask Bjoern Hansen)
* debug: new: "Apache::DebugInfo" (Geoffrey Young)
* config: updated: "PerlFreshRestart" with DSO notes (Doug, Vivek
Khera)
* troubleshooting: new: "Can't upgrade that kind of scalar ..." (Doug)
* performance: new: "Bloatware" (Tom Christiansen)
* performance: new: "CGI.pm versus Apache::Request" (Doug)
* performance: new: "Apache::Registry versus pure PerlHandler" (Doug)
* performance: new: "TMTOWTDI: Convenience and Performance"
* install: "Is it possible to run mod_perl enabled Apache as suExec?"
(Randal L. Schwartz, Matt Sergeant)
* performance: updated: "Benchmarking PerlHandlers"
* performance: new: "Keeping the Shared Memory Limit"
* porting: new: "File tests operators"
* performance: updated "PerlSetupEnv Off" with a test script
* snippets: new: "Getting the Front-end Server's Name in the Back-end
Server" (Sean Dague)
* porting: extended "Taint mode" -- a suggestion for services that
move to mod_perl and have part of the scripts that won't run under
enabled Taint mode (Gunther Birznieks, Ken Williams)
* modules: new: "Apache::OutputChain -- Chain Stacked Perl Handlers"
(Honza Pazdziora, Eric Cholet)
* snippets: new: "SSI and Embperl -- Doing Both" (Michael Schout)
* performance: new: "-Dusemymalloc Perl Build Option" (Doug, Jeffrey
W. Baker)
* strategy: added unedited answer for the question "Multithreading or
not Multithreading" (Shane shane@isupportlive.com)
* install: updated "Automating installation" (James G Smith)
* performance: added a workaround for limiting memory usage under
Linux to "Limiting the Resources Used by httpd Children" (Kevin
Murphy)
* debug: added clarification fd leakage in "Safe Resource Locking"
(Bill Moseley)
* multiuser: extended the scenario for multi-user/multi-webserver on
one machine option, how to enforce port and similar settings without
forbidding user to modify his httpd.conf. (inspired by Greg Cope)
* scenario: new: "Caching in mod_proxy" (Ilya Obshadko)
* porting: new: "Accessing Request Object in non-Perl*Handler Modules"
(Doug)
* config: new: "Adding Custom Configuration Directives" (Doug)
* snippets: new: "Convert a POST Request into a GET Request" (Doug)
* scenario: extended the "Getting the Remote Server IP in the Back-end
server in the Proxy Setup" section with notes about the modules
configuration precedence problem and its solution. (Ilya Obshadko,
Ewan Edwards)
* strategy: new "Pros and Cons of Building mod_perl as DSO" (based on
* strategy: new: "mod_perl and mod_ssl" (Tom Mornini, Vivek Khera, Mads
Toftum)
* snippets: added a "PerlTransHandler example" (Randal L. Schwartz,
Ajay Shah)
* config: extended examples for "<Perl> sections", added the package
declaration caveat, Apache::ReadConfig namespace and more.
* performance: extended the "Reducing the Number of stat() Calls"
section, with examples of PerlTransHandler and reducing stat()s for
.htaccess look-ups
* help: added the perlmonth.com and Gerald Richter's article reference
* porting: updated the "Right headers generation": OS with EBCDIC as
character set and sending proper headers. (Doug)
* porting: added: "Apache::print() and CORE::print()" (Doug)
* debug: updated: Sys::Signal, SIGALRM and perl5.6 issue (Doug and Bill
Moseley)
* config: $Apache::Server::StrictPerlSections (Doug)
* scenario: more practical mod_rewrite examples by Geoffrey Young.
* minor corrections: download.pod by Ron Pool, scenario.pod by Terry
West and Eric Cholet, config.pod by Richard More, performance.pod by
Stephen Judd and Steve Reppucci, frequent.pod by Andreas Piesk.
* review: Mark Summerfield has joined the group of the kind people who
review and correct the Guide. He has reviewed these chapters:
advocacy, config, control, databases, dbm, debug, download,
frequent, hardware, help, install.
* review: Ged W. Haywood was very kind to review and correct the
debug chapter.
03.04.2000 ver 1.21
* help: updated the mod_perl list subscription info, added the
advocacy list info.
* download: HA section - added more links (Robin Berjon, Gerd Knops)
* strategy: added a new section "When One Machine is not Enough for
SQL DB and mod_perl" (Vivek Khera, Jeffrey W. Baker, John Armstrong,
Mike Miller, Leslie Mikesell, Tom Brown, Ed Phillips, Marko van der
Puil) Special thanks to Jeffrey for working on the this section
before it went into the Guide.
* perfomance: added the section "Memory Swapping is Considered Bad"
* modules: added the Apache::GTopLimit and Apache::Watchdog::RunAway
modules description
* performance: new section "Is my Code Shared"
* download: added links to DB sites and "Low-Cost Unix Database
Differences" comparison page.
* config: new section "Enabling Remote Server Configuration Reports"
* performance: new section "Calculating Real Memory Usage"
* scenario: mod_proxy section has been rewritten and extended with
lots of OS specific information (Joshua Chamas, Oleg Bartunov,
Gerald Richter, Radu Greab, Peter Haworth, Vivek Khera)
* performance: rewritten "Object Methods Calls Versus Function Calls"
and splitted into the original section and "Imported Symbols and
Memory Usage" (James G Smith, David Mitchell, Doug, Matt Sergeant,
Bill Moseley, Autarch)
* performance: added "Reducing the Number of stat() Calls" (Steve
Reppucci)
* install: added a note of how to force CPAN shell to install mod_perl
when the same version is already installed.
* scenario: added "mod_rewrite Examples" (Vivek Khera, Tom Mornini)
* databases: added "Optimize: Run Two SQL Engine Servers" (Pascal
Eeftinck)
* snippets: added "Using DESTROY to Finalize Output" with solutions to
redirection loghandler fixes (Michael Blakeley)
* scenario: added to the section "One Plain and One mod_perl enabled
Apache Servers" --target option to make the ./configure stage
somewhat simpler. (James Furness)
* snippets: added 2 modified versions of the mysql backup/restore
scripts to work with 3.22.30+ (Ward Vandewege)
* Moved complete files, previously enlisted in the text, to the
external files. This makes the browsing faster when the files are
very big. Added new POD tag =code to create the link to the
external file at the pod2html conversion stage
* review: Ged W. Haywood was very kind to review and correct the
following chapters: control, install
* performance: in "Forking and Executing Subprocesses from mod_perl"
fixed a few typos in code. (Anthony D. Ettinger, Matt Sergeant and
Edwin Pratomo)
02.09.2000 ver 1.20
* I've created a mod_perl_guide package and now it's available from
CPAN! So when a new version gets released you just open your CPAN
shell and do:
% perl -MCPAN -eshell
cpan> install mod_perl_guide
All the POD sources and build scripts has moved to this
distribution, get them from CPAN.
* There is no more PostScript file book style distribution. A better
PDF version has replaced it (suggested by Andrew Ford). Note that
you can use gv (ghostview) to view pdf files, if you don't have a
free acroread installed. Or you can always use 'pdf2ps' utility to
convert it back to PS.
BTW this release's PDF file consists of 481 Letter format pages.
* install: rewritten "What Compiler Should Be Used to Build mod_perl?"
* performance: added "Measuring the Subroutines Memory Usage"
what hooks where enabled during the build process.
* debug: extended the "Looking inside the server" section with new
info about Apache::Status, mod_status and Apache::VMonitor
* snippets: added "Emulating the Authentication Mechanism" (Eric
Cholet)
* troubleshooting: runtime: added "Can't call method
"register_cleanup" (CGI.pm)" (Doug, Nick Tonkin)
* snippets: added "Setting PerlHandler Based on MIME Type" (Doug)
* install: .makepl_args.mod_perl in $HOME, otherwise
makepl_args.mod_perl (no leading dot) (Ask Bjoern Hansen)
* databases: completed the DBI trace info (Doug Kyle)
* modules: added and extended the Apache::Registry{BB|NG} sections
(Doug)
* config: added "debugging <Perl> sections" (Doug)
* modules: added a ref to "Apache::RedirectLogFix" (Doug)
* snippets: added "Passing Notes Between mod_perl and other (non-perl)
Apache Modules" (David Harris)
* snippets: added "mod_rewrite Based On Query String and URI
Implemented in Perl" (Darren Chamberlain)
* config: added "Knowing the proxy_pass'ed Connection Type" (Geoff
Crawshaw)
* perl: the long time ago added regexp section "lifted" from
mod_perl_traps.pod was written by David Landgren and I apologize for
not stating it here (I didn't know it was David who wrote it). Now
everything is in its place.
* perl: added a workaround to make FindBin work under mod_perl (Joao
Fonseca)
* install: "make test troubleshooting": added the 'localhost' entry
existance in '/etc/hosts' verification.
* debug: explained the confusion about Sys::Signal and SIGALRM (was
already solved internally) (Doug)
* perl: John Hyland and Kavitha have pointed out a few typos of mine
:)
* dbm: mentioned DB_File::Lock and Tie::DB_FileLock modules and added
a summary of all available dbm lock wrappers ripped of from the
DB_File::Lock manpage. (David Harris)
* installation: APACHE_PREFIX works only if APACI_ARGS is used (Joe
Slag)
* databases: fixed sql_escape from My::DB module's example (Yann
Kerhervé)
* databases: starting from Apache::DBI 0.84 Apache::DebugDBI is
discarded. (Mike Depot)
* debug: added the "PERL_DEBUG=1 Build Option"
* debug: added the "PERL_DESTRUCT_LEVEL Environment Variable" (Doug)
* databases: updated the DBI wrapper module
* install: added to the troubleshooting section the solution to
'PL_perl_destruct_level errors' problem, which happened during the
mod_perl build process.
* review: Ged W. Haywood was very kind to review and correct the
following chapters: frequent, perl, performance (!), scenario (!)
* perl: rewritten "Tracing Warnings Reports" section
* porting: fixed a bad mistake in the code that prints header only
once in the "Generating correct HTTP Headers" section. Added more
material about headers as well.
* config: added "Options Values Merging" section
* config: the chapter was partially rewritten and reorganized
* config: completed the "Apache Restarts Twice On Start" section
12.19.99 ver 1.19
* all.html has gone (all htmls in one) -- it became more than 1Mb, too
big - use the PS version instead
* reorg: moved the "perl reference" chapter to be one of the first
ones, because it should be read first. Moved the strategies and
implementations toward the middle.
* snippets: started "Code Unloading" as hinted by Doug.
* porting: updated "Output from system calls" (Doug)
* porting: fixed the "\n\n" vs. "\r\n\r\n"(Philip Newton)
* debug: added "Debugging when Server Crashes on Startup before
Writing to Log File" (Cliff Rayman)
* snippets: added "Redirecting While Maintaining Environment
Variables" (Vivek Khera)
* troubleshooting: added "libexec/libperl.so: open failed: No such
file or directory" (Christophe Dupre)
* performance: added "Upload/Download of Big Files" (Ken Williams)
* install: added a reference to "Static debian package" (David
Huggins-Daines)
* troubleshooting: added Windows: "Apache::DBI and
PERL_STARTUP_DONE_CHECK" (Gerald Richter, Randy Kobes)
* performance: added KeepAlive notes (Craig, Pascal Eeftinck)
* performance: added HTML::Mason notes (Pascal Eeftinck)
* porting: added new "die() and mod_perl"
* porting/perl: moved most of the perl specific reference material
into perl.pod removing duplications of this material on the way and
replacing it with pointers to perl.pod
* performance: rewritten "Object Methods Calls Versus Function Calls"
* porting: FindBin is not mod_perl compatible (Andrei A. Voropaev,
Joao Fonseca)
* scenario: denoted the ProxyReceiveBufferSize limit by SO_RCVBUF in
kernel (Vivek Khera) and kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=2621440 on BSD (Oleg
Bartunov)
* snippets: added "mysql backup and restore scripts"
* snippets: added "Subclassing Apache::Request example"
* snippets: added "CGI::params in the mod_perl-ish way"
* debug: added "Using print() and Data::Dumper for Debugging"
* snippets: started a "Sending email from mod_perl" topic
* control: Preparing for Machine Reboot
* download: added more load ballancing URLs
* performance: added "Tuning with httperf"
* intro: added "High-Profile Sites Running mod_perl" (Rex Staples)
* review: Ged W. Haywood was very kind to review and correct the
following chapters: start, intro, strategy, porting (!), databases,
dbm, security.
* install.pod: perl Makefile.PL troubleshooting - added "A test
compilation with your Makefile configuration failed..." and
"missing/misconfigured libgdbm.so" (Tom Brown and Steve Willer)
* install.pod: make troubleshooting "unrecognized format specifier for..."
during the build process (Scott Fagg)
* porting: a bug in a script from "Exposing Apache::Registry secrets"
spotted and fixed (John Deighan)
* install.pod: integrated the "manual mod_perl build process" remarks
and patch (Robin Berjon)
* install.pod: don't put mod_perl sources in a sub-dir of Apache
sources. It wouldn't build! (Ask Bjoern Hansen)
* review: Dale Couch was very kind to review and correct the
following chapters: porting
11.13.99 ver 1.18
* An almost complete rewrite of debug.pod:
(Integrated Doug's debugging article at perlmonth.com)
Curing The "Internal Server Error"
Helping error_log to Help Us
The Importance of Warnings
diagnostics pragma
Monitoring the error_log file
Hanging processes: Detection and Diagnostics
An Example of the Code that Might Hang the Process
Detecting hanging processes
Determination of the reason
Handling the 'User pressed Stop button' case
Detecting Aborted Connections
The Importance of Cleanup Code
Critical Section
Safe Resource Locking
Cleanup Code
Handling the server timeout cases and working with $SIG{ALRM}
Watching the server
Configuration
Usage
Compiled Registry Scripts section seems to be empty.
Sometimes script works, sometimes does not
Code Debug
Locating and correcting Syntax Errors
Using Apache::FakeRequest to Debug Apache Perl Modules
Finding the Line Number the Error/Warning has been Triggered at
Using print() Function for Debugging
The Importance of Good Coding Style and Conciseness
Introduction into Perl Debugger
Interactive Perl Debugging under mod_cgi
Non-Interactive Perl Debugging under mod_perl
Interactive Perl Debugging under mod_perl
Interactive Perl Debugging under mod_perl and ptkdb
Debugging core Dumping Code
Apache::Debug
Debugging Core Dumps
Debug Tracing
gdb says there are no debugging symbols
Debugging Signal Handlers ($SIG{FOO})
Code Profiling
Devel::Peek
How can I find if my mod_perl scripts have memory leaks
Debugging your code in Single Server Mode
* A complete rewrite of install.pod:
(Integrated the INSTALL.* docs from the mod_perl distribution)
Installing mod_perl in 10 Minutes and 10 Command Lines
The Gory Details
Sources Configuration (perl Makefile.PL ...)
Configuration parameters
APACHE_SRC
DO_HTTPD, NO_HTTPD, PREP_HTTPD
Callback Hooks
EVERYTHING
PERL_TRACE
APACHE_HEADER_INSTALL
PERL_STATIC_EXTS
PERL_MARK_WHERE
APACHE_PREFIX
APACI_ARGS
Reusing Configuration Parameters
Discovering whether some option was configured
Using an alternative Configuration file
mod_perl Building (make)
make Troubleshooting
undefined reference to 'Perl_newAV'
Built Server Testing (make test)
Manual Testing
make test Troubleshooting
make test fails
mod_perl.c is incompatible with this version of apache
make test......skipping test on this platform
Installation (make install)
Building Apache and mod_perl by Hand
Installation Scenarios for Standalone mod_perl
The All-In-One Way
The Flexible Way
Build mod_perl as DSO inside Apache source tree via APACI
Build mod_perl as DSO outside Apache source tree via APXS
Installation Scenarios for mod_perl and Other Components
mod_perl and mod_ssl (+openssl)
mod_perl and mod_ssl Rolled from RPMs
mod_perl and apache-ssl (+openssl)
mod_perl and Stronghold
Note For Solaris 2.5 users
mod_perl Installation with CPAN.pm's Interactive Shell
Installing on multiple machines
using RPM, DEB and other packages to install mod_perl
A word on mod_perl RPM packages
Getting Started
Compiling RPM source files
Mix and Match RPM and source
Installing a single apache+mod_perl RPM
Compiling libapreq (Apache::Request) with the RH 6.0 mod_perl RPM
Installing separate Apache and mod_perl RPMs
Testing the mod_perl API
Installation Without Superuser Privileges
Installing Perl Modules into a Directory of Choice
Making Your Scripts Find the Locally Installed Modules
CPAN.pm Shell and Locally Installed Modules
Making a Local Apache Installation
Actual Local mod_perl Enabled Apache Installation
Local mod_perl Enabled Apache Installation with CPAN.pm
Automating installation
How can I tell whether mod_perl is running
Testing by checking the error_log file
Testing by viewing /perl-status
Testing via telnet
Testing via a CGI script
Testing via lwp-request
General Notes
Should I rebuild mod_perl if I have upgraded my perl?
Perl installation requirements
mod_auth_dbm nuances
Stripping apache to make it almost perl-server
Saving the config.status Files with mod_perl, php, ssl and Other Components
Should I Build mod_perl with gcc or cc?
OS Related Notes
* databases: added "Debugging code which deploys DBI"
* porting: added "STDIN, STDOUT and STDERR streams"
* advocacy: added "A summary of perl/cgi discussion at slashdot.org"
* snippets: added "Terminating a child process on Request Completion"
(Doug)
* troubleshooting: added "Apache.pm failed to load!" (Doug)
* snippets: added "Reading POST Data, then Redirecting" (Doug)
* snippets: added "Cache control for regular and error modes" (Cliff
Rayman)
* performance: added "Be carefull with symbolic links" (the same
script compiled twice)
* install: new "apache/mod_perl/mod_ssl Rolled from RPMs Scenario"
(Stephane Benoit)
* porting: 'use subs (exit)' typo fixed (Chris Nokleberg)
* warnings.pod was renamed to troubleshooting.pod and now it's
categorized by the following sections:
Building and Installation
Configuration and Startup
Code Parsing and Compilation
Runtime
Shutdown and Restart
* porting: the following sections were moved to debug.pod:
"Finding the Line Number the Error/Warning has been Triggered at",
"Turning warnings ON",
"diagnostics pragma"
* porting: rewritten "Comman line Switches (-w, -T, etc)"
* performance: "Forking or Executing subprocesses from mod_perl"
updated with another CHLD sighandler using WNOHANG to reap zombie
processes (Lincoln Stein)
* install: updated "Testing via a CGI script" (Geoffrey S Young)
* porting: updated "Terminating requests and processes, exit()
function" with info about post_request termination,
Apache::SizeLimit and Apache::GTopLimit
* perlformance: links from
were dead (I removed them :( (Peter Skov)
* snippets: added "Caching the POSTed Data" (Doug)
* install: "Compiling libapreq with mod_perl RPM" reviewed and
corrected (Geoffrey S Young)
* status.pod has been eliminated and absorbed by debug.pod where it
belong
* Fixed pod translator. Now it handles correctly C<$r-E<gt>method>
encodings. (Andreas Koenig)
10.16.99 ver 1.17
* intro: CREDITS section was updated with the long list of
contributors!!! Thank you all!!! If I've missed your name, please let
me know!!!
* control: added "Safe Code Updates on a Live Production Server"
* control: added "An Intentional Disabling of Live Scripts"
* scenario: added a big new section "One Light and One Heavy Servers
where ALL htmls are Perl-Generated" (Wesley Darlington)
* dbm: David Harris has detected a corruption with the suggested
locking methods in the Camel book and DB_File man page (at least
before the version 1.72). They are flawed and if you use them in the
environment where more than one process modify the dbm file, it can
get corrupted!!! I've modified the DB_File::Lock module to fix the
problem by integrating the previously written DB_File::Wrap and the
module David wrote (David Harris)
* snippets: added "Sending multiply cookies with Perl API" (Rick
Myers)
* install: added a big section "using RPM, DEB and other packages to
install mod_perl" (Geoffrey S Young, David Harris)
* install: added "Automating installation" - James G Smith's Apache
Builder script
* install: added a new section "using CPAN to install mod_perl"
* performance: extended the "Forking or Executing subprocesses from
mod_perl" with information and code to avoid zombies.
* performance: added a converted to pod "Jeff's guide to mod_perl
database performance" (Jeffrey W. Baker)
* new chapter: "Correct Headers" contributed by Andreas Koenig!!!
* help: updated the link to DBI homepage (hermetica has gone)
* performance: added sizing benchmarks of CGI.pm's imported
symbols. (CGI.pm's object methods calls vs. function calls)
* porting: fixed a typo with local() and Special variables (Andrei
A. Voropaev)
* snippets: fixed a taint problem in the sample error_log display
script.(John Walker)
* install: added "Should I Build mod_perl with gcc or cc" (Tom Hughes)
* warnings: added to the troubleshotting section "Missing right
bracket at line " with a link to the item explaining that in
porting.pod ("__END__ and __DATA__ tokens") (Eric Strovink)
* install: added a tip of saving config.status files for each module
build (php. mod_perl, ssl) for a later easier reuse. (Dave
Hodgkinson)
* performance: added clarification to "PerlSetupEnv Off" item (Doug)
* snippets: added "Passing environment variables between handlers"
(Doug)
* warnings: added "Can't locate loadable object for module XXX" (Doug)
* config: corrected the <Perl> section dump typo (Gerald Richter)
* scenario: corrected the snippet to extract the client IP from the
X-Forwarded-For header to use headers_in instead of the obsolete
header_in (Oleg Bartunov)
* scenario: added a note about "Ben Laurie's Apache-SSL setting
REMOTE_ADDER instead of X-Forwarded-For header (Jie Gao)
* performance: started "Analysis of SW and HW Requirements" (Jeffrey
W. Baker)
* warnings: clarification of "rwrite returned -1" (Eric Cholet)
* warnings: added "Invalid command 'PerlHandler" (Doug)
* debug: started "Apache::Debug" and Carp::confess("init") (Doug)
* install: "undefined reference to 'Perl_newAV'" documented (Doug)
* modules: added a clarification about Apache::PerlVINC (Doug)
* warnings: updated the "Callback Called Exit & -D
PERL_EMERGENCY_SBRK" (Doug)
* databases: added $Apache::DBI::DEBUG = 2 (instead of '1') for ver
0.84+ (Edmund Mergl)
* performance: added "Caching prepare() statements" + rolling your own
Apache::DBO code (Jeffrey Baker)
* porting: replaced "Apache::Registry::handler" with
"Apache::Registry". It caused problems to some of the users (Daniel
W. Burke)
* performance: added "Increasing the shared memory with mergemem" (no
real info but a link to the util's site. Please take a look and
submit your opinions) (Doug Bagley)
* snippets: added "Redirect a POST request, forwarding the content"
(Eric Cholet, Doug)
* performance extended the "Using $|=1 under mod_perl and better
print() techniques" with notes about rflush()
* shuffled many items around to help more intuitive search of the them
* performance: added "Cached stat() calls"
09.26.99 ver 1.16
* Many little things fixed, rewritten - didn't worth listing them all
here.
* index.html: added another search box for only mod_perl FAQs and the
guide provided by perlreference.com
* config: added a note about Apache restarting twice on start
* warnings: added "syntax error at /dev/null" - broken /dev/null
(Doug)
* porting: added "Special Perl Variables" using local()
* multiuser: Added the considerations not to let users to execute their
CGI scripts inside mod_perl server because of file permissions
(non-mod_perl problem) and a possibility to hijack a DBI connection
from Apache::DBI pool of cached connections (Peter Galbavy)
* install: added "Is it possible to tell whether some option was
included" nm() hints (Doug)
* performance: new "PerlSetupEnv Off" (Doug)
* porting: new section "Passing and preserving custom data structures
between handlers" (Ken Williams)
* security: "OK, AUTH_REQUIRED.and FORBIDDEN" in authentication
phase. (Eric Cholet, Jason Bodnar)
* porting: rewrote the "Generating correct HTTP Headers" section, to
talk about HEAD requests, PerlSendHeader, Perl API to handle the
headers generation, Cookie headers, closure methods to send headers
only once.
* Purifications: I'm very grateful to the people who take their time
to help me to improve the guide's readablility. This time Richard
A. Wells and Frank Schoeters submitted a few corrections to the
text. Keep these corrections coming. Thanks!
* porting: extended the "Forking and Starting Sub-processes with
mod_perl" section (Les Mikesell, Randal L. Schwartz )
* porting: Wrote a whole new section "Configuration Files: Writing,
Modifying and Reloading.", which consist of 3 big parts:
Writing Configuration Files
Reloading Configuration Files
Dynamically updating configuration files
* scenario: updated the X-Forwarded-For> section with notes of
non-reliability. (Ask Bjoern Hansen, Vivek Khera)
* porting: started the "Sharing variables between processes" section
(Eric Cholet)
* config: dumping the configuration by <Perl> sections (Eric Cholet)
* performance: prepare_cached() in persistent connections.
* help.pod: updated a link to Jefferey W. Baker's DBI examples
(Jefferey W. Baker)
* a list of mailing list archives was updated (Andreas J. Koenig, Jan
Peter Hecking, Matthew Darwin, Christof Damian, Geoffrey S Young)
* debug.pod: "Spinning httpds" section from mod_perl.pod
* config.pod: have stolen the sections "PERL METHOD HANDLERS",
"STACKED HANDLERS" and "Perl*Handlers" from mod_perl.pod
* performance.pod: noted the DTWO_POT_OPTIMIZE and -DPACK_MALLOC Perl
Options from perl5004delta.pod relevant to mod_perl
* config.pod: wrote sections "PerlModule and PerlRequire directives",
and Perl*Handlers.
* install.pod: "skipping test on this platform" while 'make test'
explained. (Doug)
* warnings.pod: syntax error at /dev/null, explained (Doug)
* started to work on intro.pod to make clear out the differences
between Perl API, Apache::Registry, Apache::PerlRun.
* install.pod: added "mod_auth_dbm nuances" an old notice from
mod_perl_traps page
* porting.pod: Added the explanation of why you cannot use C<__END__>
or C<__DATA__> within C<Apache::Registry> scripts.
* Removed the Cyan background from the postscript version of the
guide. I liked the light grey background when the guide was printed
on the B&W printer, but yes it uses too much toner - so it's gone :)
08.17.99 ver 1.15
* Richard A. Wells has kindly reviewed and corrected the following
pods: advocacy.pod download.pod snippets.pod status.pod
browserbugs.pod intro.pod start.pod
* security.pod : added "Forcing reauthenticating" section
* help.pod : Added links to modperl.sourcegarden.org and
* performance.pod: a little fix to the crashme script (Jay J)
* Updated the porting.pod sections: "Sometimes it wors, sometimes
doesn't", "Script's name space" and other as well
* config.pod: updated <Perl> sections (how to dump the sections (Eric
Cholet) and how to use the /perl-status for doing that.
* hardware.pod: David Landgren did a great job of reviewing,
suggesting and correcting the OS/Hardare chapter!
* Andreas J. Koenig pointed out that it's unfair to mention eddieware
without the others.. I agree Andreas! hardware.pod and download.pod
were updated to point to "High-Availability Linux Project"
site... Eddieware was removed :)
* download.pod: now guide hints on where to find Apache::Request
(libapreq-x.xx.tar.gz) - on Philip Jacob request
* config.pod: a few small typos (John Milton)
* databases.pod: Matt Arnold pointed out a problem with
connect_on_init if the database server is down. I've added a
warning.
* porting.pod: Cleared out the confusion with StatINC and @INC issue
* perl.pod: Added a section that reveals the useful perldoc options
* performance.pod: Added the explanation of the Apache::Leak example
(Cliff Rayman)
* databases.pod: Added the explanation of the "skipping connection
cache during server startup", when the connection is attempted to be
opened in the parent process. (Edmund Mergl)
* debug.pod: started the "Debugging Core Dumps" item (Doug)
* performance.pod: added the reference to Apache::RegistryBB, for
those who want to save the little overhead of the stat() call that
is being executed under Apache::Registry. (Doug)
* modules.pod: added Apache::RegistryBB (Doug)
* porting.pod: covered the issue of Apache/Work/Foo/Bar.pm collision
with Apache/Work/Foo.pm if the former is being loaded first (Doug)
* Apache::Leak considered to be non-friendly, added a reference to
B::LexInfo (Doug)
* porting.pod: "Passing ENV variables to CGI" added clarifications for
%ENV setting/passing mechanism in mod_perl (Doug)
* performance.pod: started a new subsection - shared memory (what, how
much, where)
* modules.pod and porting.pod: added an Apache::LogSTDERR module to
solve the syslog problem(Doug)
* porting.pod: Reloading handlers trick (Doug)
07.3.99 ver 1.14
* porting.pod: added "Exposing Apache::Registry secrets, closures,
multiserver mode".
* A complete review, which included corrections, verifications,
extensions and clarifications was done to the following pods during
the preparation of the tutorial for the 3rd apache conference:
start.pod
intro.pod
porting.pod
performance.pod
strategy.pod
scenario.pod
config.pod
install.pod
control.pod
databases.pod
multiuser.pod
help.pod
06.19.99 ver 1.13
* While working on presentation discovered a wonderfull 'html2ps'
a real mod_perl book in PostScript !!! (cross references aren't
working yet)
* hardware: added a reference to eddieware
* performance.pod: extended the Apache::Resource section (Doug)
* performance.pod: Added a reference to httperf benchmark tool.
* I made many little changes all over the guide, while preparing a
subset of material for the upcoming apache/perl conference tutorial
* performance.pod: added some clarifications to "Preload Perl modules
at server startup" section - regarding CGI::compile
* advocacy.pod: A complete rewrite to communicate the ideas
differently. Now it displays a positive, motivational and
concise perspective on the same ideas. (by Randy Harmon)
* strategy.pod: modifications related to memory sharing with Apache,
mod_proxy section (Ask Bjoern Hansen)
* scenario.pod: Added the missing implementation of "Standalone
mod_perl Enabled Apache Server"+configuration, which is temporarely
located at the same chapter.
* More pods have been purified by Steve Reppucci (performance.pod).
06.05.99 ver 1.12
* install.pod: added "Should I rebuild mod_perl if I have upgraded my
perl?"
* scenario.pod: explained the long termed bug with APACI_ARGS, csh vs.
sh issue.
* databases.pod: added "mysql_use_result vs. mysql_store_result"
(Michael Hall, Ken Williams, Vivek Khera)
* config.pod: added "Logical grouping of Location, Directory and
FilesMatch directives" (Daniel Koch)
* config.pod: added "The confusion with use() clause in startup" file
(Mike Fletcher)
* config.pod: added "The confusion with defining globals in startup"
file
* performance.pod: extended the Devel::DProf notes with Apache::DProf
* started a new advocacy.pod: mod_perl advocacy
* install.pod: "Stripping apache to make it almost perl-server"
(Jeffrey W. Baker, Randal L. Schwartz,Robin Berjon)
* modules.pod, config.pod : added Doug's Apache::PerlVINC to set a
different @INC perl location
* install.pod: covered an installation problem of: "mod_perl.c is
incompatible with this version of apache" (Doug)
* databases.pod: added "Opening a connection with different
parameters" (Jauder Ho, Edmund Mergl)
* performance.pod. modules.pod - added Apache::GzipChain to cut down
download times
* debug.pod: added some snippets from Doug's replies showing strace
and Devel::Peek in action
* updated obvious.html#Reloading_only_specific_files - some code
improvements (Ken Williams)
* debug.pod: added "Debugging Signal Handlers ($SIG{FOO})" which
covers the latest $SIG{ALRM} changes and Doug's Sys::Signal module
to overcome the handler restore problem with other signals. (Doug)
* strategy.pod: mod_proxy and http accell sections were extended by
notes from Joshua Chamas.
* warning.pod: noted a 'rwrite returned -1' fix in CVS version
* obvious.pod: added "Additional reading references" to "my() scoped
variable in nested subroutines" including a pointer to an article by
Mark-Jason Dominus about how Perl handles variables and namespaces,
and the difference between `use vars' and `my'.
* hardware.pod: applied some addition and changes.
* debug.pod: added "Monitoring error_log file"
* scenario.pod: added a complete definition of ProxyReceiveBufferSize,
its buffering functionality.
* More pods have been purified by Steve Reppucci (hardware.pod,
strategy.pod). Thanks to Steve English speakers can read my
scribbles as well :o)
05.17.99 ver 1.11
* new hardware.pod: added a "Operating System and Hardware Demands"
(Dean Fitz reviewed it and made lots of fixes!!! Thanks)
* started a new security.pod "Protecting Your Site" to explain
security hazards and to show some configuration setups and code
snippets.
* security.pod: explained the Authentication and Authorization terms
* security.pod: "Non authenticated access for internal IPs, but
authenticated by external IPs" (Eric Cholet)
* scenario.pod: added "HTTP Authentication with 2 servers + proxy"
(Mark Mills, Russell D. Weiss)
* scenario.pod: added some DSO building notes (Guy K. McArthur)
* porting.pod: added "Generating correct HTTP MIME Headers" as
suggested by Alex Krohn
* config.pod: added "Running 'apachectl configtest' or 'httpd -t'"
(Doug)
* porting.pod: added "Passing ENV variables to CGI" (Doug)
* Updated: "Finding the line number the error/warning has been
triggered at" at porting.pod
* Added the info about ProxyReceiveBufferSize in scenario.pod,
mod_proxy section. (Rauznitz Balazs)
* added to config.pod: Configuration Security Concerns (Gunther
Birznieks)
* completely rewrote the start.pod (the English was horrible :(
* updated help.pod with squid help URLs
05.08.99 ver 1.10
* control.pod: SUID start-up scripts (Lincoln Stein)
* porting.pod: Forking subprocesses from mod_per (Philp Gwyn)
* added to performance.pod: CGI.pm\'s object methods calls
vs. function calls
* new pod: browserbugs.pod - Workarounds for some known bugs in browsers.
added: Preventing QUERY_STRING to get corrupted with &entity key
names.
added: IE 4.x does not re-post data to a non-port-80 URL
* strategy.pod: updated notes about squid (Andreas J. Koenig)
* strategy.pod and scenario.pod started the ProxyPass sections (Mark
Mills, Ken Williams, Ask Bjoern Hansen)
* wrote a code to validate a pod L<> directive, by first building a
hash of all available achors and hash of all L<> directives, then
reporting the broken links! This is cool! TomC will never accept the
patch to his Pod2Html.pm :( So there is no broken links anymore,
unless I forgot to run the checker :)
* start.pod now contains an overview of the guide. The previous
content migrated to install.pod and download.pod. Part of the
scenario.pod moved to install.pod.
* people still report problems with CSS I use, I made more tweaking by
deleting almost all styles. Seems people are missing some basic
fonts families and complaining about being unable to read the text.
* strategy.pod: using thttpd instead of plain apache (Rauznitz Balazs)
* scenario.pod: was splitted into strategy.pod and
scenario.pod. strategy.pod now only talks about different
approaches, while scenario.pod provides the building and
configuration details. strategy.pod tries clearly to state the pros
and cons of each approach (please review)
* Introduced a new dbm.pod: mod_perl and dbm files (please review)
* Introduced a new databases.pod: mod_perl and Relational Databases
(please review)
* The whole expanded table of contents now can be found in index.html
- (index.html now being generated by script). Should make
navigation much easier.
* The last html sources file has gone, now all src files are pods.
* Improved search engines requirements: Extended <META
NAME="Description"> and <META NAME="keywords">
* Improved navigation : added Next, Main. Previous links.
* Added another list archive (help.html):
* obvious.pod: "Setting environment variables for scripts called from
CGI." (Lincoln Stein, Doug MacEachern)
* extended the "Using $|=1 under mod_perl and better print()
techniques" at performace.pod.
04.19.99 ver 1.09 (1/2)
* guide.tar.gz and guide-src.tar.gz were outdated, now they are synced
* Fixed a huge number of typos (with help of speller :), I'm sure
there are still many that speller didn't catch - guess people are
regular to read badly written textbooks, since just a few told me
about them :( If you spot such, please, do not hesitate and tell me!
* Lupe Christoph suggested to apply changes to the main page. It's
done. Also as suggested by Lupe linked the text "Writing Apache
* Numerous typos were spotted by Andreas J. Koenig and gave me an
idea to run speller :)
04.17.99 ver 1.09
* added to warnings.pod: explained "incorrect line number reporting in
error/warn log messages"
* added to scenario.pod: clarification about 2 different config files
in the 2 servers scenario (David Livingstone)
* added to scenario.pod: started "mod_perl as DSO" section - almost
empty yet :( anyone with DSO experience?
* added to config.pod: started the mod_perl as DSO section
* updated config.pod: added how $Apache::Registry::NameWithVirtualHost
bug in older versions can be turned into a feature (Doug)
* added to performance.pod : Memory sharing (Leslie Mikesell)
* updated warning.pod: server reached MaxClients setting
* updated performance.pod : MaxClients reached ( Nick Tonkin )
* updated start.pod: "How can I tell whether mod_perl is really
installed" - added httpd -l
* modified scenario.pod: Made little changes to make the installation
process less confusing (Pete Harlan)
* obvious.pod: updated "Handling the server timeout cases" -
$SIG{ALRM} to not restore the original underlying C handler. Pointed
to try a Sys::Signal as a remedy (Doug)
* new in multiuser.pod: ISPs providing mod_perl services - a fantasy
or reality. (Notes from Mark Mills, Russell D. Weiss)
* new in multiuser.pod: Virtual Hosts in the guide
* new pod : multiuser.pod - mod_perl for ISPs. mod_perl and Virtual
Hosts.
* Added a link to the new book to the O'Reilly and Amazon.com sites.
* debug.pod: added Apache::DB coverage
* performance.pod: "Why you should not use $|=1 under mod_perl" (Doug,
Randal)
* debug.pod: "gdb says there are no debugging symbols" (Michael Hall)
* config.pod: "the server no longer retrieves the DirectoryIndex files
for a directory" (Andreas Grupp)
* scenario.pod: added 'make test fails' when people use PREP_HTTPD=1
or don't use DO_HTTPD=1 (Doug)
* removed the 'Mini' part from the guide's name, since it's growned
enough to be not called mini any more.
* modules.pod: added Apache::Request
* modules.pod: added Apache::DBI
* modules.pod: added Apache::Session (Jeffrey Baker)
* new pod: modules.pod - to introduce Apache::* modules with small
examples to rise curiosity to read the whole man page
* new in scenario.pod: "mod_perl and proxy server"
Incentives
Squid proxy server in httpd accelerator mode
Running a squid and 2 webservers scenario
Running a squid and 1 mod_perl apache server scenario
(Reviewed and modified according to notes by
Richard Dice, Andreas J. Koenig, Eric Cholet, Jeremy Bailin, David
Landgren)
* Added to scenario.pod: 'Publishing port numbers different from 80'
(originally by Ken Williams, forwarded by Eric Strovink)
* config.pod: new section "Configuring Apache + mod_perl with mod_macro"
contributed entirely by Eric Cholet (I have edited it a bit :).
04.03.99
* Rewritten the CREDITS section of the intro.html. I hope I didn't miss
anyone, if I did please tell. Lets feed the ego :)
* The guide now looks much better with StyleSheets (Nathan Vonnahme)
* added to porting.pod : Filehandlers and locks leakages (Ken Williams, Doug)
* added to obvious.pod: Handling the server timeout cases (Doug)
* created new pod: perl.pod to cover some too frequently asked pure
perl questions: opened up with "Using global variables and sharing
them between modules/packages"
* Now the pod sources available online along with the resulting htmls
and the scripts that generates them.
* Added a summary of various mod_perl deploying schemas (1/1, 2/2, DSO
and proxy). /scenario.html#More_mod_perl_deploying_schemas (Mark
Mills)
* created new frequent.pod for "Frequent mod_perl problems" as
suggested by Eric Cholet, who said that problems like 'my() scoped
variable in nested subroutines' come up so often on the list that
should be stressed in the guide as one of the most important things to
read/beware of. Since now it has only a few problems please suggest
what other ones should go here.
* obvious.pod rewritten : my() scoped variable in nested subroutines
(Eric Cholet)
* some typos fixes in intro.html, start.pod and scenario.pod (Garr
Updegraff)
* snippets.pod: Cookie handling code (Ed Park)
* obvious.pod updated: Handling the 'User pressed Stop button'
case. More hints (Eric Strovink) and apache 1.3.6 news (Henrique
Pantarotto)
* scenario.pod added : Is it possible to determine which options were
given to modperl's Makefile.PL
* More pods have been purified by Steve Reppucci (warning.pod,
obvious.pod and porting.pod). He did so much work to make them
readable, that I'm afraid to apply new changes to break all the
beauty he made :) Thanks, Steve!
03.15.99
* Added a downloadable guide.tar.gz as someone requested
* snippets.pod: Accessing variables from the caller's package (Ken
Williams)
* porting.pod: Redirecting mod_perl error_log messages to the browser
- added an extensive example
* control.pod: added hints - Preventing from modperl process to eat up
all the disk's space, when it goes wild. (Andreas J. Koenig, Ulrich
Pfeifer)
* performance.pod: cleared out where one can get the 'ab' Apache
Benchmark utility
* warning.pod: covered - Evil things might happen when using
PerlFreshRestart (Doug)
* status.pod: covered - Compiled Registry Scripts section seems to be
empty (Radu Greab)
* warning.pod: covered - RegistryLoader: Cannot translate the URI...
* scenario.pod: added a note: when using USE_APACI and APACHE_PREFIX,
make install will run also the make install at Apache's source
tree... (Doug)
* debug.pod Getting some decent debug info when running under mod_perl
(Doug)
* ScriptAlias vs. Alias updated and explaned in config.pod. (Doug, Ask
and Eric)
* scenario.pod, intro.html, config.pod, control.pod and start.pod were
purified by Steve Reppucci. Steve has fixed my incorrect English
expressions and tenses, corrected some technical details! Enormous
help, Steve! Thanks!
If you see some incorrect English in the guide, don't hesitate to send
an email to me. Thanks!
01.22.99
* new obvious.pod: Where do the warnings/errors go?
* new index.html: added a search box
* new snippets.pod: added error_log.pl script to fetch the latest logs
from the server without telneting there
* new snippets.pod: How to avoid printing the header more than once.
* new snippets.pod: More on relative paths
* upd start.pod: removed all 'latest version is', so the guide will
not misguide people (Ken Williams)
* upd config.html: removed redundant ;; (Ken Williams)
* upd config.html: fixed the question/answer 'Is there a way to
provide a different startup.pl file for each individual virtual'
(Ken Williams)
* upd help.html: a few links fixed (Peter Skov (UNIT))
* upd porting.pod: CORE::exit vs Apache::exit section update (Doug)
* upd scenario.pod: note about importance make clean execution,
because of possible binary incompability (1.3.3 vs 1.3.4) (Doug)
* upd porting.pod: switches -w, -T in the shebang line (Doug)
* upd debug.pod: tracing the PerlRequire's and PerlModule's as they
are loaded (Doug)
* add config.pod: Sometimes script from one virtual host calls the
script with the same path from the second virtual host (Doug)
* add performance.pod: how can I find if my modperl scripts have memory leaks (and where). (Doug)
* help.html: added a section for DBI help (Jeffrey W. Baker)
12.28.98
* Updated the "Client hit STOP or Netscrape bit it" section, with new
warning "[modperl] caught SIGPIPE in process" for ver 1.17 (new
Apache::SIG)
* Richard A. Soderberg spotted a few problems with name anchors in
start.html (pod converter doesn't resolve the problem correctly) and
ScriptAlias typos at config.html.
* broken link to www-security-faq was spotted by Gunther Birznieks
12.20.98
* fixed: @INC vs %INC obvious.html#Using_Apache_StatINC (thank to Ken Williams)
* new: Apache::SpeedLimit added to
performance.html#Limiting_the_request_rate_speed_
* modified: register_cleanup in Registry scripts (END{} blocks)
based on the last week tread
* new: obvious.html#Handling_the_User_pressed_Stop_
* Found a bug in Pod::Html - it tries to convert HTTP::Foo alike
tokens into hypertext link which breaks the code in the resulting
html. Applied the patch to Pod::Html::VERSION 1.01
1119a1120
> (?! :) # don't convert HTTP::Foo and alike
* Discovered that the guide is being searchable thru the
* Extended the control|Log_Rotation section (+Script from Randal)
* control: HUP vs TERM vs USR1. I have asked for validation of this
section, but received none... Added a note about slowness of
termination (Robin Berjon) and possible way to speed it up (Frank
D. Cringle). Added a mneumonics => numbers for SIGs (Marshall Dudley)
* added the missing USE_APACI=1 in start.html#Mod_Perl (Thanks to Tzvetan Stoyanov)
12.13.98
* covered warning: rwrite returned -1
* covered warning: Client hit STOP or Netscrape bit it!
* covered warning: Can't load '.../auto/DBI/DBI.so' for module DBI
* covered porting: using format()
* covered warning: child process 30388 did not exit, sending another SIGHUP
* extended warning: Callback called exit
All the above are based on the Doug's answers this weekend :)
* new: config: Tuning MinSpareServers MaxSpareServers StartServers
MaxClients MaxRequestsPerChild (actually a pointer to the next item)
* new: performance:
Tuning the Apache's configuration variables for the best performance
Tuning with ab - ApacheBench
Tuning with crashme script
Choosing MaxClients
Choosing MaxRequestsPerChild
Choosing MinSpareServers, MaxSpareServers and StartServers
Summary of Benchmarking to tune all 5 parameters
##########################################################################
12.08.98
* Lots of "little typos" fixed. Thanks to Evan A. Zacks,
Eric Cholet and Nancy Lin !
* added a quote from DBI page, why $sth-rows; can't be used for rows counting.
* fixed obvious.html#Compiled_Regular_Expressions href at porting.html
Thanks to Richard Dice!
* lots of little changes and add ons...
12.07.98
* Run a spell check. ispell and WWWebster were quite helpful :)
* Added Richard Dice's notes about ways to see whether or not mod_perl
is actually compiled into the server and working. "check the
error_log file" (installation)
* Added 'Is it possible to install mod_perl without root access?'
section into Server Installation (scenario) page.
* Added Perrin Harkins and Jonathan Peterson's notes about
apache/mod_perl/embperl/DBI vs IIS/ASP/ADO
* Added a CHANGES file (this one)
* Added an 'all in one page', suitable for printing. Currently it's
just an ordered cat(). In the future it might change :)
12.03.98
* First Release